The UCLA School of Dentistry submits this R24 Planning Award application to improve the research infrastructure for oral health research. This R24 support mechanism is timely in that it augments and complements ongoing efforts at UCLA to develop competitive basic, clinical and translational oral health research. Currently there are seven research foci at the UCLA School of Dentistry that are primed to be considered for this support: bioengineering and tissue engineering, bone biology, head and neck cancer, health services research, immunology, microbiology and pain research. This planning application consists of two parts. Part I is the process to select one to two research areas for infrastructure support and to determine the critical infrastructure needs to elevate UCLA School of Dentistry to be a competitive national center for outstanding oral health research. Central to this critical needs assessment process will be the creation of an Institutional Planning Committee (IPC) consisting of UCLA institutional leaderships that will be integral partners in the infrastructure development process and subsequent implementation. A second committee, the External Advisory Committee (EAC), consists of distinguished senior scientists outside of UCLA to provide critical opinions to transform UCLA to be a national leader for oral health research. Part II is the development of an Infrastructure Improvement Plan (IIP) based on the critical needs assessment outcomes of Part I. This is the detailed process to improve key infrastructure areas in the selected area(s) of oral health research (basic, clinical, translational and behavioral) in terms of human resources, research training and career development needs, space, equipment, shared core support as well as institutional support and commitment. To ensure the achievement of the R24 objectives, a Steering Committee will be formed. Institutional support and commitment will be obtained from all participating institutions including Dean of the Dental School, Dean of the Medical School, Director of the Dental Research Institute, as well as the Vice Chancellor of Research, Provost and the Chancellor of UCLA. This R24 application reflects the commitment, the close and effective leadership of the principal investigator to network and collaborate with research leaderships at UCLA for research infrastructure improvement at the UCLA School of Dentistry.